Mounting a Light on the Fork
01-10-22, 05:37 PM
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Mounting a Light on the Fork
I don't commute but thought this group would provide some good feedback.
I need space on my handlebar so I want to mount my headlight on the fork. I bought a Problem Solvers brake-on fork mount, and can attach that to the fender eyelet on my fork (bottom of the fork blade). I don't use fenders so have this available. This light is 'to see', and I usually only need the light for 30-60 minutes on morning rides, other than in summer.
My question is if you've done this and does it adequately light up the road, compared to mounting on the handlebars. We have snow for the foreseeable future so I won't be using it anytime soon...but I'm both bored and curious!
I need space on my handlebar so I want to mount my headlight on the fork. I bought a Problem Solvers brake-on fork mount, and can attach that to the fender eyelet on my fork (bottom of the fork blade). I don't use fenders so have this available. This light is 'to see', and I usually only need the light for 30-60 minutes on morning rides, other than in summer.
My question is if you've done this and does it adequately light up the road, compared to mounting on the handlebars. We have snow for the foreseeable future so I won't be using it anytime soon...but I'm both bored and curious!
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01-10-22, 06:06 PM
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I use two small white lights mounted on my fork arms. They are USB rechargeable due to thier small size. With both of them on I probably get a wide lighted area of about 200 Lumen. For full street illumination I use a 400 lumen Head Lamp mounted on my helmet using 3 AAA batteries. I am more comfortable with my head lamp for illumination most likely due to my spelunking days...
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Last edited by zandoval; 01-10-22 at 06:20 PM.
01-10-22, 07:15 PM
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I have a dyno powered light mounted on my fork crown that works well; however I like to use another light mounted low on the fork. By aiming it relatively flat (but slightly downward), the small grazing angle of incidence allows me to see road imperfections better.
01-11-22, 08:52 AM
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I did this four years ago:
It was a temporary thing, but it seemed to light my way just fine, although I do have a secondary helmet light.
The Low-Down on my Front Light Mount Hack
It was a temporary thing, but it seemed to light my way just fine, although I do have a secondary helmet light.
The Low-Down on my Front Light Mount Hack
03-26-22, 04:10 AM
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Both Planet Bike and Cateye make dedicated fork mounts for their lights.
03-28-22, 08:58 AM
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On occasion I'll take the "bike path" to/from work. This has 3/4 mile of really nasty pavement, such that I think of Lance Armstrong's "cross country" downhill leg from 20 years ago while riding it some evenings.
Anyhow, the fork crown mount seems to be a pretty good balance between lighting up the path and highlighting the ridges from the cracked pavement. I've thought about moving it to a Nob on the rack mount in the middle of the fork, but I doubt I'd want to go all the way down to the bottom of the fork. At some point it would be so low that surface irregularities could hide from the lowest light mount -- things like puddles if it's raining, or broken glass.
Anyhow, the fork crown mount seems to be a pretty good balance between lighting up the path and highlighting the ridges from the cracked pavement. I've thought about moving it to a Nob on the rack mount in the middle of the fork, but I doubt I'd want to go all the way down to the bottom of the fork. At some point it would be so low that surface irregularities could hide from the lowest light mount -- things like puddles if it's raining, or broken glass.
